The big day has finally come. Will the Kitauji High School concert band advance beyond preliminaries?
I have to admit that having the members that are not participating in the competition made good luck charms for everyone is a nice touch. It seems that some of the girls know about Reina being close with Kumiko since they made ones with matching designs. Still, I’m amazed that Natsuki personally made a big one for Yuuko. Yep, it’s quite obvious that Natsuki might have a thing for her with all this teasing in a good way. Not only that, Kumiko brings back the ponytail while Reina and Asuka ties theirs up in one too. I have to admit that they look good in them.

Reina now has her hair in a ponytail like Kumiko.

Overall, I don’t have much to say about the episode except that the performance sounded great. Considering the amount of effort the band put into coming this far, the scene where all the members of the Kitauji High School concert band find out that they advanced to the next round was beautiful. I have to admit that it was a nice way to end the show until they announce a movie or another season in the future.

As a side note, it appears that the picture in one of the folders Taki is holding is most likely his wife since she was wearing a wedding wing. In short, Reina’s crush on him is pretty much doomed from the start, besides the age difference and ethical issues that make the relationship impossible to begin with. In other words, this is a good thing as it proves that the ship hasn’t died at all.

After so much suspense, they finally made it for real!

Final Thoughts

I have to admit that while the last few productions from Kyoto Animation in 2014 gave me some mixed feelings, Hibike! Euphonium did not disappoint. Sure, there were some ups and downs, but at the same time, most of the plot development was great and relatable to my experiences from playing the piano and being a part of the school’s concert band. Not only that, I’m impressed by the amount of detail they put into practicing, lessons, tuning instruments, how the instruments are played among other things.

While not all the characters received character development considering how many members in the band there are, I enjoyed the characters that got development, namely Kumiko and Reina as they grown closer with each episode, especially in the 8th and 11h episodes. With that, I wouldn’t mind another season or a movie of some sort. Hopefully, other members in the band will receive some focus as well with the band progressing further in achieving their goal of competing in nationals.

Reader Interactions

That Natsuki does so enjoy teasing Fangirl.
KumiRei ended as best as I expected it would, “business as usual”. No problem with that as it could have been worse. Only KyoAni could make a simple gesture of a girl tying up another girl’s hair hot. That and it’s because it was KumiRei tying hair.
The great one had my heart from beginning to end. What a woman.
The hyped up performance lived up to it.
Season 2 or a non-TLS movie would be nice.

I didn’t realize that before, but the similarities of the both episodes does a good job showing how far the band improved from being a mediocre one to a hard working and good sounding one. Not to mention, the band’s work ethics have changed now that the members are working hard towards a goal.

Aside from that, I do agree that this is one of the better shows in a while. The productions in the last few years did not quite live up to the same level as the older shows from 2012 and earlier.